Immigration Reform Advocate: GOP Was Had by Obama

Republicans in Congress walked into a political trap set by President Barack Obama when they went ballistic over his unilateral move to welcome in illegal immigrants, and they need to stake out middle ground between the president's position and theirs, an immigration reform advocate tells Newsmax TV.

The stalemate over Homeland Security funding that has Republicans in a bind got its start with Obama's decision to go all-out on the wedge issue of immigration and tempt Republicans into looking like bigots, ImmigrationWorks USA president and CEO Tamar Jacoby told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner on Thursday.

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When Republicans charge that Obama has abused his powers, said Jacoby, "the public looks at that — and a lot of Latino voters look at that — and they don't see Republicans talking about abuse of authority. They hear Republicans saying, 'We hate immigrants.' Unfortunately, that's what it looks like right now."

"If they were smart, they would sit down and say, 'What can we do on immigration that's a constructive step that makes clear we think legal immigrants are good for America?'" said Jacoby, a self-described Republican who lobbies for small-business owners in favor of comprehensive immigration reform.

"Of course, they're not going to want to pass the same thing that the president did," said Jacoby. "They're not going to want to look like they're caving to the president. But they could do something strong, assertive and positive that isn't caving."

While the Senate is debating a so-called "clean" Homeland Security budget bill that doesn't cancel out the president's executive immigration order, Jacoby said House Speaker John Boehner has to manage conservative lawmakers who won't take yes for an answer.

Homeland Security funding is scheduled to expire at midnight Friday.

"The big problem are the 40 guys in Congress who aren't going to let anything happen now that isn't just tearing down the president," she said. "They're trying to continue to stick it to the president, but none of their stabs are getting through. None of their blows are landing."

Boehner, who compared Senate Democrats to blackmailers on Thursday, has not yet said whether he'll follow the Senate's new lead.

The House voted in January to fund DHS past Friday but with no funding for Obama's order to begin issuing work permits and visas to as many as 5 million immigrants here illegally.

"Speaker John Boehner has a very tough job," said Jacoby.

"He's struggling in a difficult situation," she said. "He's going to have a heck of a next few days; I don't need to pile on him. He's stuck between the obvious need now to get out of this box and the 40 guys in his conference who aren't going to let him out of his box."

Republicans in Congress walked into a political trap set by President Barack Obama when they went ballistic over his unilateral move to welcome in illegal immigrants, an immigration reform advocate tells Newsmax TV.